Indigenous Games Festival 2014

from http://theafricanrenaissancecatalog.wordpress.com and http://www.srsa.gov.za

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The Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa, under the leadership of Minister Fikile Mbalula, is once again hosting its Annual Indigenous Games Festival. The Games will be held at the Pretoria Events Show Grounds from the 21st till the 24th September 2014.

The Festival is the 9th to be hosted and is made up of nine indigenous games codes. These games comprise indoor codes such as Iintonga, Morabaraba, Ncuva, Kgati and Driestokkies while the outdoor codes include Jukskei, Diketo, Kho-Kho and Dibeke. The national Festival is a culmination of the provincial competitions that took place in all nine provinces.

Approximately 2 500 athletes from all provinces will be competing for the national titles. These Indigenous Games reflect the cultural diversity of our country and Sport and Recreation South Africa is preserving these Games as they reflect our heritage and culture, hence the significance of hosting them in September, which is Heritage Month.

The 2014 Indigenous Games Festival boasts loads of entertainment targeted at families, as there will be a children’s area which will accommodate close to 500 children, with fun activities such as face painting, jumping castles etc. A food court will be serving traditional cuisines, and there will also be a beer garden.

The Indigenous Games Festival kicks off on Sunday! Here is the program:

Download the full program here: http://www.srsa.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=2280

Street Carnival – Sunday 21 Sept 9am

IG Street Carnival Route – 4.7 km

From Union Buildings , left onto Leyds Street

Turn right into Pretorius Street

Proceed Straight till Princess Park

Turn Left Into WF Nkomo/Church

Then Arrival at Tshwane Events Centre

11:35

Competing Teams Parade, National Anthem & Raising of the flag

11:40

Choreographed Performace Piece, 60 Dancers etc

11:30

Opening Remarks – Deputy Minister (SRSA)

12:40

Welcoming : City of Tshwane

Opening Remarks: Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation

12:45

Reading of Oath – Diketo Federation and Ms. Zoleka Krawe (Athlete)

12:50

Praise Singer – Ikwekwezi FM Praise Singer

12:55

Keynote Address – Minister (SRSA)

13:10

Declaration of Games being Open – Minister (SRSA)

Lighting of Flame

14:00

Let the Indigenous Games Begin and Performanjce by Phuze Khemizi

From 22-23 September 9am-6pm there’ll be indigenous games elimination rounds.

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-a picture of a girl playing “Diketo”-

2001 saw the revival of indigenous games played in various communities in South Africa. The tournament was developed in response to the government’s call for an African Renaissance [1]. The Ministry of Sports and Recreation established a tournament to host the games, “South African Indigenous Games”

The indigenous games tournament is held annually in September and 23 indigenous games from different regions of the country have been incorporated. The games are expected to have 800 participants in 2012. [2]

To play the game until one player has lost all their “cows” (or pebbles).

Play space set up

The size of the play space and the number of holes often depends on the number of players. Most common are boards that have four rows of 12 holes (mekoti) each, although the number of holes can vary from 4 to 36 per row. Place two small pebbles or morula pips (“cows”) into each hole.

Play instructions

Each player (or team) only uses their side of the play area or “play board”. On a turn a player takes the contents of one of their holes, which must contain at least two stones, and distributes them, one by one, counter-clockwise into consecutive holes on their own side. If the last stone falls into a non-empty hole, its contents are distributed in another lap in the same direction. The move ends (kulala, literally “to sleep”) when the last stone is dropped into an empty hole.

If the last stone falls into an empty hole of the inner row, and the opponent’s opposite hole contains stones, these enemy stones are “killed” (hlaba) or “hit”. Additionally, the stones in the hole of the same file in the outer row are “captured” (tlola). The killed or captured stones are removed from the board.

The player is then entitled to capture the contents of any other two enemy holes.

When a player has only singletons, they are permitted to move them, but only in empty holes. The player who still has stones at the end of the game is declared the winner. It is a draw when the board position repeats without anything being captured.

Morabaraba (umlabalaba) – a board game

—morabaraba tournament

—morabaraba board variation design

—morabaraba design

Aim of the game

For one player to remove (eliminate) their opponent’s tokens.

Equipment needed

The game is played by two players. Each player needs 12 tokens (“izinkomo” cows). These could be stones, marbles of the same or similar colour.

Play instructions

Play can happen in a period of minutes or hours. Tokens are placed, one at a time, alternately, on a point of intersection with the aim of making the tokens form a line, three in a row. The opposing player can place their tokens anywhere to block the other player from getting three in row. When a player gets three tokens in a row they have won that row and must remove one of the other player’s tokens from the board. When all tokens are used, the game continues. Players can move their tokens to new intersections and keep trying to get each other’s tokens. The game ends when one player has removed all of their opponent’s tokens.